Analysis Of Ali Eckermann's 'Apology Day Breakfast'

White Australians state “shame when [their] kids they die from colds or from sheer neglect. Shame when [they] live on the river banks. While collectin' [they’re] welfare cheques. Shame when [they’re] blind from trachoma. Shame when [they’re] crippled from blights.” The rhyming scheme in the stanza makes poem flow seamlessly constructing a conversational tone as if the narrator is speaking directly to the audience. This feature purposefully lulls the reader into agreeing with the white Australia’s arguments as it constructs an image that the Indigenous people are refusing to integrate themselves with modern society and suffering the consequences of those decisions. The mention of welfare cheques also contribute to the perspective that white Australians are attempting to mend the lives of Indigenous individuals, however this could not be further from the truth and message of this

This work examines the past and also imagines the future by using references of past racial murders and the way they coincide with the present context and explore Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous culture in the present-day. Ah Kee created this series of artworks in response to the apparent police cover up of the death of a young man in their custody, for protection of

Many songs have deep and emotional messages throughout them, but few can match the aptitude portrayed in “The Dead Heart” This is depicted with the help of the text structure. “The Dead Heart” was made up of 8 stanzas. The rhyme pattern is ABCC, and changes throughout different stanzas this is to show the displeasure of the Indigenous people, when white men came and took their land. Indigenous people felt many things during this time period, happy and satisfied weren’t what they felt, instead they felt: hopeless, depressed, unfortunate and miserable. There are constant slant rhymes in the song, an example includes: Know your custom don't speak your tongue, white man came took everyone” The pure reason why “Midnight Oil” made these two sentences slant rhyme opposed to normal rhyme is to show the discomfort and distress when the British took their land, their most prized possession and their home. The structure used throughout “The Dead Heart” is phenomenal and truly captivates the true emotion the artist’s intended. Not only is the structure used extraordinary, but the poetic devices used truly entice the audience and elicit an emotional response.

Our knowledge of the generic conventions used in poetry influences our understanding of the text. “The Firstborn”, a poem by Aboriginal author Jack Davis, enables the reader to determine the poem as a graphic protest about the extinction of and discrimination against the Australian Indigenous people, and the loss of their ethnicity, as their world collides with the Western culture. By focussing on my understanding of both generic conventions and author’s context, I am able to conclude that the poem concerns a tragedy within the Aboriginal community.

The poem ‘We Are Going’ by Oodgeroo Noonuccal is about the displacement of the Aboriginal people in Australian society/culture and their confusion about where or what to belong to as their traditional customs are taken away/forgotten. The text raises the issues and themes of ‘Belonging’ through a mostly-‘defeated’ tone as it shows their loss of tradition and culture in the new Australia.

Through the use of poetic devices, the author has successfully encouraged the audience to explore their thoughts on Australian identity and to reflect on our nation’s history.

Gilbert’s poem portrays many Aboriginals plight’s within Australia and conveys notions of despair, anguish and anger for his fellow Aboriginal comrades. Again, Gilbert uses strong visual imagery in “the anguished death you spread” which helps convey the persona’s feeling of horror and anger at the Europeans. This is further emphasised through the poet’s vehement and repetitive use of second person pronouns in “you” which conveys a sense of blame and accumulates into an accusatory tone and generates a strong sense of detachment between the author and the European settlers. Furthermore enjambment enhances the accusatory tone in “you pollute all the rivers and litter every road” because the lack of punctuation and pauses makes the lines sharp and quick, creating a sense of anger in the author. In addition the author’s use of metaphors in “humanity locked in chains” creates a sense of struggle and inability to escape the oppression the Aboriginals are in, whereby the word “chain” is symbolic for trapped and lack of freedom. Kevin Gilbert’s emotional poem brings light to the pain and suffering Aboriginals are going through, which is a stark contrast to the image of Australia, being a free and accepting

This narrative text is based off the film The Sapphires set in Australia in the 1960s. In The Sapphires we see a flashback of Kay’s childhood and how she is part of the Stolen Generation. I will use this storyline as the starting point for my diary entries. The film gave me background knowledge on Stolen Generation and their experiences they faced. However, I need to know extra information so I will do further research about the Stolen Generation, in order to give an accurate description of their experiences. This narrative is targeted towards everyone. It is designed to inform them about the Stolen Generation and how they changed when forcibly moved to an Aborigines White Institution. This piece of text will be written in a diary entry form. I will use informal and conversational language. I will also use descriptive language when describing objects and sceneries throughout the text.

Government policies authorising the removal of Aboriginal children have caused extensive and unrepairable damage to every aspect of Indigenous culture. It could be argued that the emotional turmoil which occurred as a result of this policy, is greater than any physical abused ever faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. The act of child removal would be a scarring experience for parents and children of any race or culture. This policy had a particularly damaging impact on the Indigenous people as their identity is based within a set of strong traditional guides and teachings. These lessons are not recorded, but can only be taught through speaking with elders and learning through a connection to others within the mob, connection to art forms

I would like to begin this speech by recognising the owners of this land, the true ancestors of the country we call ‘ours’. To the Indigenous peoples of Australia, I acknowledge you, I thank you and most of all I apologise to you for the deep suffering and remorse you are put through. I am ashamed of this country’s treatment towards you. Past and Present.

The text presents the conversation between an 5-year old child named Ashlyn as she asks her mother in a bright voice, “Mummy, tell me some Aboriginal words”, which her mother replies, “Well… I don’t really know any.” The reply by her mother indicates that the connection of their Indigenous language throughout past generations was lost. For instance, Ashlyn further asks “Mum, why did the Aboriginals take the children away?” Throughout the conversation, even the child recognises the injustice of the policy enforced. This question stuns the mother as she continues to explain, “Possum, the… Aboriginals had their kids taken away…”. The mother realises she is the one using the term ‘kids’ whereas, her daughter used ‘children’. The mature sentence structure and advanced style of vocabulary by the young child is achieved through this, as she tries to comprehend the history of her cultural background through understanding at the tender

The Indigenous people who are alive today survived from centuries of colonialism, and lived with the trauma of a stolen identity. On January 26th every year, Aboriginal people commemorate Australia Day as Invasion day. This is a tradition shaped in 1988 to remember surviving 200years of colonization. The Apology to Australia’s Indigenous People was announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on February 13, 2008 and pledged the government and country to respect their rights to self-determination and accept parliamentary and governmental responsibility for over two centuries of oppressive and discriminatory policies with the ‘Stolen Generations’. The Apology is a remark hinting at the vestige of colonialism.

The apology included a proposal to close the gap between both the Indigenous and Non-Indigenous communities of Australia in life-expectancy, economic opportunity, and educational achievement. Since the policy ended, medical professionals have noticed those impacted have heightened levels of anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health issues, with suicide rates in the Indigenous communities exceeding the other communities of Australia. Although being history now, the Stolen Generation and its policies will forever remain one of Australia’s biggest period of

Between 1910-1970, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their family and community as the result of the Government’s belief in the black inferiority and white superiority. The children affected by the government issued child removal policies were known as the Stolen Generation. These children were raised rejecting their own heritage and forbidden to speak their traditional language while under the care of their adoptive white family or institutions. The forcible removal of these children impacted not only the indigenous people but also the culture itself. Many of the Stolen Generations suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse and received very low level of education; while the culture itself is disrupted and lost.

As there may only be 4 stanzas this poem stands out with it’s powerful meaning and IMagery within the poet’s meaningful and emotionally extravagant words. The language the poet uses is creative and relates to the purpose of the poem which is to express how the Aboriginals are treated as minorities having less power and not being able to retaliate when the white people just overtook their sacred land with no consent from anyone but just doing it because they are the superior race and because no one is going to stop them from it. This poem has a steady movement throughout with different changes in emotions but keeps a steady movement throughout the whole poem, which matches the mood of the poem. The poem uses alliteration throughout the whole poem helping provide meaning and power behind words used e.g. “Cover up the crime committed this day”, this line in a stanza provides alliteration to express itself through poetry techniques. The poem also has examples of repetition with the starting line “White men turn quickly the earth of Acacia Ridge”, this is repeated in the third stanza at also the starting line.